Preps

Cotey: Lakewood's Wright isn't keeping score

The coach wants to leave a legacy of doing things the right way.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published November 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Related links Video report [Martha Rial | Times] Lakewood's Dan Wright is congratulated on his 600th coaching victory.

ST. PETERSBURG

He doesn't want you to remember him for winning hundreds of basketball games, but you will.

He doesn't want you to remember him for winning state championships, but you won't be able to help yourself.

He doesn't need to be remembered as the best basketball coach in this era, but feel free to debate the point.

What he wants has nothing to do with scoreboards. Years from now, when you look back and marvel at one of the most successful careers in the history of Florida high school basketball, he just wants you to remember that he did things the way they needed to be done.

"That's the one thing you can say about Danny Wright," said Northeast coach Dave Redding, "is that he did things the right way."

Tuesday night, Wright reached a milestone he seemed to be remarkably uninterested in - he won his 600th game as his Lakewood Spartans knocked off Northeast 68-42.

"Just a number," he said, "that means more to the people that have gone through this program. It's just another game to me."

Wright is one of only 10 coaches in the history of Florida prep hoops to win 600 games. Go most places in the state where they play basketball, and they know what the coach has built in south St. Petersburg.

"When we go places in the summer, all over the state, people know what Lakewood is," said senior center Mike Morrison.

Even on this night, there is a stark reminder to the difficulty in reaching such milestones. After the hugs and pats on the back and a head rub from Morrison, Wright was approached by an angry parent, unhappy about her son's situation with the team.

Sometimes, doing things the right way makes parents angry. "Part of the job," Wright says.

Part of the job that drives more and more away from coaching every year, making it harder to imagine anyone lasting 30 years, much less averaging 20 wins a season while doing so.

He may be old school, but Wright has new school sensibilities. He told the parent they would have a meeting and discuss her son. He'll see what he can do about making things right again.

That's how you win 600 games. You set rules, but remain approachable, reasonable, pliable when the time calls for it.

One day, they will love you for it.

"I was 10 when I first met him at Lake Vista," said assistant coach Dwight Latimore. "I grew up wanting to play for him, wanting to play for Lakewood. Every kid in the neighborhood does."

Latimore played for Wright, and now coaches with him, in his 13th year as an assistant coach.The 600th win was a bigger deal to him, just like Wright said it would be.

Only St. Petersburg icon Freddie Dyles has won more games. The former Gibbs coach won 674 games, including quite a few with a young point guard named Daniel Wright, by the way, who led the Gladiators to the state final four in 1972.

After going to college at Florida Southern and watching a pro career fail to materialize, Wright returned to St. Petersburg and landed the Lakewood job after two years.

The rest, as Latimore says, "is history ... tonight was history."

Wright will retire in 2010. Before then, he wants one more state title. He might catch Dyles, but doesn't care either way.

The rest he'll leave to you. But remember, when you do look back to moments like the 600th win Tuesday night, remember the way Dan Wright got there.

[Last modified November 28, 2007, 00:55:41]